New Points System for 2011: The new points system – which applies to all NASCAR national series – will award points in one-point increments. As an example, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, race winners will earn 43 points, plus three bonus points for the win. Winners also can earn an extra point for leading a lap and leading the most laps, bringing their total to a possible maximum of 48 points.
All other drivers in a finishing order will be separated by one-point increments. A second-place finisher will earn 42 points, a third-place driver 41 points, and so on. A last-place finisher – 43rd place – earns one point. In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the last-place finisher receives eight points, to account for that series’ 36-driver race field.
See more notes about the new points and chase system on the 2011 Chase Rules and Notes page.

The New NASCAR Points System: NASCAR recently announced it has simplified its points system starting in 2011, some notes on how it works:
The new points system awards points in one-point increments with race winners earning 43 points, plus three bonus points for the win.
All other drivers in a finishing order will be separated by one-point increments. A second-place finisher will earn 42 points, a third-place driver 41 points, and so on. A last-place finisher – 43rd place – earns one point. In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the last-place finisher receives eight points, to account for that series' 36-driver race field.
All drivers also can earn an extra point for leading a lap and ONE driver who leads the most laps, gets one point.
The max a driver, a race winner can get, is 48 points.
Teams that fail to qualify for a race will get no owners points, but NASCAR will track number of attempts, no word on how ties will be broken after five races when the owners points goes into effect.

The New Sprint Cup Chase System:
Twelve drivers will run the Chase
The top 10 in points following Race No. 26 -- the "cutoff" race -- to earn Chase berths.
The final two spots will be determined by the number of wins during the first 26 races.
Positions 11 and 12 are "wild card" qualifiers and will go to non-top-10-ranked drivers with the most wins, as long as they're ranked in the top 20 in points. Ties are broken by points position, then by 2nd place finishes, 3rd, etc.
The top-10 Chase drivers will be seeded based on wins during the first 26 races, with each win worth three bonus points.
The wild card drivers will not receive bonus points for wins and will be seeded 11th and 12th, respectively.
The top 12 drivers will be reset to 2000 points, drivers 1-10 will get three- bonus points per win.

NOTE: DRIVERS points and OWNERS points are NOT the same, teams who fail to make the race still get points, while drivers who miss the race get no points

NOTE 2 MONEY: why do some drivers listed with out any starts have money won and some do not? Some of the drivers competed in the Gatorade Duels and/or the Sprint Open non-points races and were awarded winnings for those races.

NOTES 3: these points standings are directly from NASCAR Statistics, the unofficial are posted after the race and the official are posted when released, usually sometime Monday afternoon. If they differ from NASCAR.com, take it up with NASCAR.com, I do NOT run that site and have no idea why they would differ, usually with the way penalties are handled, Folks with questions can email NASCAR or NASCAR.com, see my Racing FAQ page this info. Most questions come from folks in Fantasy Leagues, I don't not participate or follow these, ask the person running it how they handles penalties, they should have a rule for such a thing, I do not mediate such things or draft drivers for anyone.

DRIVERS in GREEN would be in CHASE for the SPRINT CUP if things stayed the same